Garment hanger



Oct. 13, 1959 R. R. CAMPBELL 2,998,431l

GARMENT HANGER Filed Aug. 14, 1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 GARMENT HANGER 2 sheets-sheet Filed Aug. 14. 1958 f Y l 2,908,431 Patented Oct. 13, 1959 UnitedStates Patent Olice GARMENT HANGER Rouel R. Campbell, Los Angeles, Calif.

Application August 14, 1958, Serial No. 755,098

6 Claims. (Cl. 223-96) vwear and fatigue of the moving parts.

If a hanger is constructed to grip -a garment, it must have at least one clamp. means and a hook for supporting the clamp means from an overhead rod. Theclamp means must grip a garment at widely spaced points for the garment to hang properly, and it is more economical to employ two spaced clamp means for this purpose than a single clamp means of relatively great width. The minimum structure, then, may comprise twoclamp means, a transverse support means such as a transverse bar or the like for mounting the two clamp means in spaced relation, and a hook to support the transverse bar.

Simplicity requires a construc-4 VA primary feature of the invention is that each of these pairs of jaws comprises asingle piece of formed resilient sheet metal. This single piece of sheet metal is equivalent to a jaw assembly comprising severalparts since it not only provides a pair of jaws but also provides for biasing the jaws to open position and, in addition, provides releasable latchmeans to hold the jaws closed on a garment. A. j Y

Another important feature is that the single piece construction insures dependable engagement of the jaws with a garment by using the weight of the, garment itself to 4keep the jaws closed.

t Still another feature is that each pair of jaws may be closed and latched simply by vshifting the pair' of jaws bodily downward relative to the lateral support means,

no manipulation of aplatch mechanism being necessary.

A further feature that is both unique and important is that while the jaws stay closed in response to the weight of the garment, nevertheless, the jaws may be j quickly and easily released by merely swinging the two pairs of jawslaterally. Thus, to release the garment from the hanger it is suicient merely to tug the at garment edgewise.

In the preferred practice of the invention disclosed herein, these various features are provided by bending a t band of spring metal to the generalconguratio'n of a l 'clothes pin togform the required pair of jaws and by further slitting and offsetting the metal of each jaw to format least one metal loop extending toward the other jaw. These loo'p elements from the two jaws'overlap 'to' form an opening by means of which the pair of jaws are mounted on the transverse bar, thel bar being carried by the usual overhead hook. To stabilize the pair of jaws on the transverse bar, one jaw is provided with a single offset l u loop element and the other has a pair of otlset loop elements which straddle the single loop element.

The spring metal band is biased to yieldingly urge thegtwo jaws apart. Consequently, the opening formed by the overlapping loop elements tends to contract with resulting pressure gripping of the transverse bar when the two jaws are open. If the jaws are closed, the opening is expanded but the expanded configuration provides a relatively narrow upper recess in which the transverse bar seats to latch the two jaws in closed positions.

The various features and advantages' of the invention will be apparent from the detailed description considered with the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings, which are to be regarded as merely illustrative:

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the presently preferred embodiment of the garment hanger;

Fig. la is a transverse section taken as indicated by the line la-la of Fig. 1 to show how the garment hanger may be provided with a hook to support a second similar hanger. In this manner `a number of the hangers may be hung in a vertical series; r

Fig. 2 is a transverse section taken as indicated by the line 2 2 of Fig. l showing a pair of jaws in open state and showing how lthe spreading apart of the jaws contracts the central opening through which the transverse bar extends;

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing-the jaws closed on a garment and showing how the jaws are latched in closed position by the-seating of thegtransverse bar in an upper recess of the opening that is formed by the overlapping loop elements;

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of a pair of jaws in the closed state shown in Fig. 3; l

Fig. 5 is a plan view of a sheet metal blank at an intermediate stage in the processing of the blank to form a pair of jaws;

Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the blank after the blank has been completely processed but before the'blank is mounted ou the transverse bar;

Fig. 7 is a plan view of a second form of blank that may be employed in an alternate practice of the invention; and

'.Fig. 8 is an end elevation of a clamp means formed ,by the second blank, the clamp means'being shown with its jawsv gripping a garment.

As shown in Fig. l, the principal parts of the iirst embodiment of the invention comprise atransverse'support bar 10, an upwardly extending hoo'k member 12y for engagement with an overhead rod in a clothes closet, and two clamp means, each generally designated by numeral 14, slidingly mounted on the transverse bar. lThe hook member 12 is a wire member spot welded or otherwise bonded to the transverse bar 10- and preferably the wire that forms the hook member 12 also forms a lower hook-shaped loop 1S to enable one garment hanger to be supported by another garment hanger. Thus, the hook member 12of a second garment hanger may be supported by the hook-shaped loop 15 to carry a second garment.

In the construction shown, the hook member 12 is provided with a smooth plastic knob 16 onits end, andthe transverse bar 10 is provided with similar plastic knobs 18 on its oppositeV ends. These knobs may be omitted if desired.

The construction of each of the clamp means 14 may be understood by referring first to Fig. 5 which shows a blank 20 that is used to form a clamp means. The blank 20 is of spring metal and may comprise a length of band stock. Since the two ends of the blank 20 form the ends Vof the two pairs of jaws, the two ends may be loffset to form dimples 22. The bare dimples lmay be used for frictionally engaging a garment but preferably the two jaws of a clamp means 14 are provided with rubber-like bodies for this purpose, as indicated at 24 in Figs. 1 4, and the dimples 22 provide effective anchorage Yfor the rubber-like bodies. r

'The .blank 20 in Fig. 5 has a pair of parallellollgitudinal slits 25 .on one of itslongitudinal halves Whiclt form a -corresponding central strip of metal 26 vand is provided on its other longitudinal path -with a similar pair of parallel longitudinal slits 28 which are spaced further apart to form a corresponding pair of marginal strips of metal 30.

The completion of the clamping means consists simply in forming the slitted blank 20 t0 the configuration shown in Fig. 6 to provide two jaws or clamp arms 32 and 34 interconnected by an upper central loop 35,. VThe strip 'of metal 26 of the blank 20 is offset to form a single loop element 26a on the jaw 32 extending toward the second .jaw 34. In like manner, the two marginal metal strips 30 of the blank 20 formed by the Itwo slits 28 are bent to form a pair of loop elements 30a on the jaw 34 that extends ;toward the jaw 32 in positions aligned to straddle the single loop element 26a. In the present practice of theinvention the transverse support bar has a iiat face 40 on one of its sides and the pair of loop elements 30a are Vformed with a straight or fiat portion 42 to cooperate with the iiat face of the transverse support rod to maintain the clamp means in vertical position when the jaws are open.

With the metal blank 20 formed to the configuration .Shown in Fig. 6, it is apparent that the two jaws 32 and 34 may be forced toward each other to cause the loop elements 26a and 30a to overlap and thereby form a contracted opening 44 through which the transverse lbar 10 may extend as shown in Fig. 2. Since the clamp lmeans tends to Vreturn to the configuration `shown in Fig. 6, it is apparent that the clamp means yieldingly grips .the transverse bar 10, and since the ilat portions 42 of the two loop elements 30a lie snug against the flat side face 40 of the transverse bar, it is apparent that when the clamp means is open it tends to keep a vertical position on the transverse bar. It is also apparent that since the two loop elements 30a straddle the loop element 26a, the clamp means 14 grips the transverse support rod 10 in a stable manner with no tendency for the clamp means to twist about its vertical axis.

I To cause the two jaws 32 and 34 to close, the overlap of the loop elements 26a and 30a must be increased with consequent expansion of the opening 44 to the expanded configuration shown in Fig. 3. The overlapping loop .elements 26a and 30a are so shaped as to form the expanded opening 44 with an upper restricted recess 45, asrshown in Fig. 3, so that closing of the-jaws 32 land 34 on a garment 36 merely requires relative movement between the clamp means and the transverse bar 10 to cause the transverse bar to enter the restricted recess 45. The recess is restricted in the sense that when the transverse bar 10 is in the recess, the recess has a somewhat narrow entrance whereby the transverse rsupport rod 10 tends to remain in the recess. It is to be noted, however, that the recess need not necessarily have a restricted entrance since the weight .of the garment 36 in pull-ing down on the clamp means tends to maintain the relationship vshown in Fig. 3.

In this particular practice of the invention, the clamp means also cooperates with the iiat side face of the support rod 10 to tend to maintain the clamp means vertical when the jaws are closed but it is to be noted that the weight of the garment 36 also tends to keep the clamp means vertical. The two loop elements 30a have straight or flat portions 46 as shown in Figs. 2 and V6 which rest .snug against the iiat face 40 of the transverse bar 10 when :the jaws are closed as may be seen in Fig. 3.

One convenient procedure for closing a clamp means 14 into gripping engagement with a garment 36 is by linger manipulation in the manner indicated in phantom in Figs. 1 and 2. In this procedure, the operators thumb 48 presses downward against the top loop 35 of the clamp means, and simultaneously the first and second lingers 50 and 52 of the operator press upward against the underside of the transverse bar 10. A11 alternate procedure which is also convenient, is to press the two jaws 34 and 32 together by one hand to grip a garment 36 and then simply pull downward on the clamp means while holding the transverse bar 10 in the other hand.

A garment 36 may be released by shifting the transverse bar 10 downward out of lthe recess 45. An important feature of the invention is that the release action may be carried out by rocking a closed clamp means laterally in the plane of the transverse rod thereby to cause the transverse bar to snap out of the recess 4S of the clamp means. In fact, it is merely necessary to tug l the garment edgewise to lcause both of the clamp means to snap open.

Figs. 7 and 8 show h ow an alternate form of clamp means, generally designedl 55 may be shaped from a metal blank 56. The metal blank 56 in Fig. 7 is formed with a central longitudinal slot 58 at one end of one-third the width of the blank to Aform a Pair of parallel jaw members 60. The .Qth'erend of the, blank is reduced in width to provide a cooperating single jaw member 62 of the same length and -width as the slot 58. Thus, a plurality of' blanks S6 may be stamped out of band Istock without waste.

The blankv56 shown in Fig. 7 is then serrated or rough- ,ened at the 'end of each of the jaw members 60 and 62 as indicated at 64 in Fig. 7 to provide adequate anchorage for rubber-like bodies 6,5 that are of the same character as l the previously mentioned rubber-like bodies 24 and serve the same PlliPQSe. It will be noted in Fig. 8 that the two jaws ,60 and the single jaw 62 are offset to form overlapping loop elements, with the loop elements 60a of the tw jaw'mernbers 60 straddling the'single loop element 62a of the jaw member 62 and forming therewith an opening 6.6 to receive vthe previously mentioned transverse lsupport bar 10. The loop element 62a has a iiat portion 7 2 which serves the same purpose as the ilat portions 42 in the first embodiment. Fig. 8 shows the .opening 66 in its expanded state with the transverse support bar 10 in ,an upper restricted recess 68 formed by the opening. Fig. 8 also shows that the metal blank 56 vmay be bent to form a circular top loop 70 interconnecting the jaws 60 and 62.

This second form of the invention functions in the same manner `as the iirst form.

My description in speciiic detail of the presently preferred practice of the invention will suggest various changes, substitutions vand other departures from my disclosure within the `spirit and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

-1. In a kgarment hanger, the combination of: a transverse support member; a hook member extending upward from said transverse member for support thereof; and at least lone Vclamp means mounted on said transverse member, ,said clamp ymeans Comprising apar 0f jaws, .each .0f

said jaws having ,a loop element extending toward the,

other jaw, the oppositely extending loop l.elements overlapping t0 form an opening through which Asaid transverse member-extends, `said opening having an expanded coniiguration when the jaws are closed together to grip la garment yand a contracted configuration when the jaws Lare spread apart, said jaws being resiliently biased to ,spreadapart with .consequent contraction of said opening, said opening at its expanded coniiguration being formed withua recess lat its upper end to straddle said transverse member and grip the transverse member from opposite sides whereby the clamp means may be moved relative to the transverse member to shift .the transverse member into said recess to cause the jaws to grip a garment and to shift the transverse member out of the recess to cause the jaws to open to release a garment.

2. A garment hanger as set forth in claim 1 in which said jaws are resilient sheet members slitted and oiset to form said loop elements.

3. A garment hanger as set forth in claim 2 in which said clamp means comprises a one piece resilient sheet member.

4. A garment hanger as set forth in claim 1 in which one of said jaws has a single loop element and the other jaw has a pair of loop elements straddling the single loop element.

`5. A garment hanger as set forth in claim 1 in which References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 756,588 Coney et a1. Apr. 5, 1904 1,458,552 Shee June 12, 1923 2,792,979 Cole May 21, 1957 

